Pennsylvania Company Buys Cordova Walgreens

An affiliate of American Capital Realty has paid $3.8 million for the 15,048-square-foot Walgreens at 1943 Berryhill Road in Cordova.

The entity, ARC WGCDVTN001 LLC of Jenkintown, Pa., bought the retail store in a Nov. 8 special warranty deed from M&M Village Investments LP, which lists a Deerfield, Ill., address, the same hometown as Walgreen Co.

Built in 2002, the Class A retail store sits on 2.27 acres at the northwest corner of Berryhill and Chimney Rock Boulevard. The Shelby County Assessor of Property’s 2012 appraisal is $2.4 million.

M & M Village Investments bought the property from Berryhill Farms in 2001 and developed the Walgreens on the site.

Sam F. Mishu signed the warranty deed as president of M&M Village Corp, the general partner of the selling party.

Source: The Daily News Online & Chandler Reports

– Daily News staff

Wunderlich Acquires Branches, Adds Advisers

As a result of the deal, 35 people will join Wunderlich including 27 financial advisers with more than $800 million in assets under administration. The deal is expected to close Dec. 14, and Wunderlich after that will have 25 offices in 15 states.

Wunderlich, based in Memphis, was established in 1996.

– Andy Meek

Pinnacle Recesses Talks With Pilots Union

Executives of Memphis-based Pinnacle Airlines Corp. have recessed contract talks with the Air Line Pilots Association as the company anticipates Delta Air Lines will begin its move away from 50-seat jets “sometime next year.”

The information was in a Thursday, Nov. 29, letter from Pinnacle CEO John Spanjers to employees.

Spanjers said Delta executives gave a time for the phase out of the smaller jets to Spanjers in its latest update to the carrier on its plans.

Pinnacle is seeking wage and other concessions from union pilots “to create a competitive cost structure, avoid liquidation and successfully emerge from bankruptcy.”

The regional air carrier filed for bankruptcy reorganization in April, but its original plan was scrapped when Delta negotiated an agreement in June with its pilots that permits it to phase out 50-seat jets used for regional flights faster than anticipated. Delta is moving to jets with more capacity as they and other carriers find the smaller jets more expensive to operate given higher jet fuel prices.

Pinnacle’s plan depends on its relationship and contract as a regional carrier for Delta remaining. And the 50-seat jets in the Pinnacle fleet put it at a disadvantage to compete for the Delta business.

“While Pinnacle and ALPA have continued to negotiate toward a consensual agreement, we are taking a few days away from the table to assess the impact of the anticipated fleet plan changes and what is needed for Pinnacle to survive,” Spanjers said in the letter released Friday, Nov. 30.

– Bill Dries

6th Circuit Remands Third-Party Access Case

A federal appeals court has ordered a lower court to reconsider whether Tennessee’s requirements to get on the ballot for third parties and their candidates are unconstitutionally restrictive.

In February, U.S. District Judge William Haynes Jr. struck down state rules requiring third-party candidates for high-level offices to be selected through a primary. He also struck down a requirement that the parties and candidates collect about 40,000 signatures and turn them in seven months before the election.

After that ruling, the General Assembly changed the law to make it easier for third parties to get on the ballot. On Friday, Nov. 30, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals sent the case back to the lower court to re-evaluate the rules in light of the recent changes.

– The Associated Press

Crescent Center to Host Human Resources Seminar

Lisa Horn, of the Society for Human Resource Management in Alexandria, Va., will be the keynote speaker at a seminar Thursday, Dec. 6, for HR professionals.

The Strategic Leadership for HR Executives Seminar, presented by HR Professionals Magazine in partnership with SHRM-Memphis, will be held from 3 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. at the Crescent Club. Horn, who is the co-director for SHRM’s workplace flexibility initiative, will kick off the initiative for Tennessee at the seminar. She will discuss how to make “workflex” work in other organizations and how to apply for the prestigious Sloan Award for Excellence in Workplace Effectiveness and Flexibility.

Memphis attorney Jenny Kiesewetter, founder of the Kiesewetter Law Firm PLLC, also will be speaking. She will present a year-end wrap up on 401(k) regulations and what to expect in 2013. And Cynthia Thompson, principal and consultant with The Thompson HR Firm and editor of HR Professionals Magazine, will speak on how to develop and implement new policies in an organization.

UPS Offers Regulators Concessions on TNT Bid

United Parcel Service Inc. says it has offered the European Union’s regulatory watchdog some concessions in its proposed €5.16 million ($6.8 billion) takeover of TNT Express NV.

UPS said the remedies involve the small package delivery sector and “comprise the sale of business activities and assets, in combination with granting access to air capabilities,” but didn’t release any information as to how this could affect the deal financially.

UPS offered to buy the struggling TNT, Europe’s second-largest delivery company, in May. It hopes to bulk up its European operations to compete with the biggest express company in Europe, Deutsche Post and its DHL arm.

In October, regulators said they were worried the UPS deal would lead to over-concentration in the sector, with the only other remaining large competitor FedEx Corp.

– The Associated Press

Consumer Spending, Pay Slowed in October

Americans cut back on spending in October while their income remained flat. The weakness in part reflected disruptions from Superstorm Sandy that could slow economic growth for the rest of the year.

The Commerce Department said Friday that consumer spending dropped 0.2 percent in October. It was the weakest figure since May, and it compared with a 0.8 percent spending increase in September.

Income had risen 0.4 percent in September.

Work interruptions caused by the storm reduced wages and salaries in October by about $18 billion at an annual rate, the government said. The storm affected 24 states, with the most severe damage in New York and New Jersey.

Consumers may also be scaling back on spending because of fears about the “fiscal cliff.” That’s the name for automatic tax increases and spending cuts that will take effect in January if Congress and the Obama administration fail to strike a budget deal by then.

The depressed spending figures suggest that the economy is growing more slowly in the October-December quarter than it did in the July-September quarter. Consumer spending drives nearly 70 percent of economic activity.

Dales predicts U.S. economic growth will tumble from the 2.7 percent annual rate in the July-September quarter to a weak 1 percent in the October-December period. That’s too low to lower the unemployment rate, now at 7.9 percent.

Even discounting the effects of Sandy, income and spending gains would have been meager. Income would have risen a still-weak 0.1 percent. Spending would have been essentially flat, Dales estimated.